Comacchio

Comacchio is a common of the Province of Ferrare in the area Emilie-Romagna in Italy.

Geography

Comacchio is located in the Delta of Po in the middle of the marshes (valley of Comacchio or valli di Comachio ), it is the part Is Plaine Po, between Ferrare and the Adriatic Sea.

Access

By the super-road which starts from Ferrare-south and which leads to the sea.
By S.309 Romea de Ravenne in Venice.
For in love ones with nature, S16 Ravenne-Ferrare, then to 2 km after Mezzano, to take on the right on Sant' Alberto, to take the vat to cross Reno and to continue on the way which skirts the Valli until Comacchio.

Origin of the name

If one refers to the first installations, the toponym could derive from the Greek " kuma " (vagueness), or according to a heading of themedieval one: " cumaculum " (small wave), or " commeatulus " (naval fleet), then became Comaclio , Comiachio and finally Comacchio .

Comacchio is also called the “ Petite Venice ” because of the channels which curve in the historical city.

History

The history of Comacchio is closely related on the valli (marsh) and to the morphological and hydrographic evolution of the Delta of Po due to the alluvial contributions of the Po and to the advance of the coastal line.

Comacchio is born after the decline from Spina at the III century av.JC, as Roman vestiges discovered attest it following work of allowance of the marshes.
After the fall of the Empire Romain d' Occident, Comacchio belonged to Exarchat de Ravenne, as the monasteries testify some to St Maria in Pado Vetere (Valle Pega) and St Maria in Aula Regia.
Comacchio passed under domination of the Royaume lombard, as attests the Capitulaire of it Liutprand (files of 715) in which are described the rules and the taxes to be paid for the trade of salt, as well as the exclusive right granted to Copmacchio for the treatment, the conservation and the trade of eel.
Lombards overcome and driven out, Charlemagne offered the city to the Church which became the seat of the episcopate.
In 866, the war between Comacchio and Venice bursts because of the strategic importance which the production and the trade of salt represent.
In 932 the armies of Sérénissime shaved the country.
In 1325, become common free, the inhabitants made act of devotion to the Ducs of Este, which controlled and managed the profits of the marshes (valli), while the production of salt continued to be blocked by Venice.
In 1598, Comacchio belongs to the Romagna which belongs to the State Pontifical. For one long period, the hiring and sub-renting of the salt-water marshes, at excessive prices, townsmen as with foreigners caused many demonstrations.

In 1797, when Napoleon i seized the country and the marshes, the citizens, guided by Antonio Buonafede and Guido Manfrini, rebelled and obtained the signature of the Rogito Giletti (July 12th, 1797), by which the French Republic sold at the town of Comacchio all the marshes. Still today the Rogito is the single document which sanctions the property of the Commune on the marshes.
In 1853, of the phenomena of salinity and of died of fish forced the commune to turn to the Apostolic Room, which entrusts the management of the marshes to the Ministry for Finances.
on August 2nd, 1849, fleeing the Austrian ships, Giuseppe Garibaldi unloaded in Magnavacca ( Oporto Garibaldi today) with Anita, his sick wife and found refuge near the comacchiens (in the Lido of the Nations still the hut of Garibaldi is). Anita died in a farm of the locality of Mandriole on August 4th.

The valli di Comacchio

The history of the valli di Comacchio is related to the morphological and hydrographic evolution Delta of Po due to the alluvial contributions of Po and the advance of the coastal line. The first human installations, go back to VI dryness. av.JC, when an Etruscan population is established, by melting the town of Spina, from which the decline will begin one century later. The draining of the marshes allowed the discovery of villas of time pre-Roman and a Roman boat, the Fortuna Maris , with all his loading of specific brick materials of the time of Auguste (Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus) 63 av.JC- 14 ap.JC (Ship discovered in 1981 during the digging of a channel of drainage, restored and preserved at Palazzo Bellini in Comacchio).

Work of allowance

With the deviation of the river Reno in the bed of the Po di Primaro by the Cavo Benedettino and the reduction of fishing, the government yielded the marshes to the Commune, which had to endorse work of hydrographic reorganization.

Undertaken without result by the families of Este, the drainage works were necessary:

1865, first project of draining of approximately 20.000 hectares.
1913, another considerable work is accomplished on more than 8.000 hectares.
In the beginning of the post-war period appears the necropoles of Spina, by the draining of the marshes of Trebba and the marshes of Pega.
In the years 1960, the last cleansings are those of the marshes of Mezzano (18.000 hectares).
Aujourd'hui it remains only the 11.000 hectares of marsh. The economy evolved/moved: after fishing and salt like primary sources, it is of development agriculture on the 60.000 hectares torn off with water and balneal tourism on the seven lidos of Comacchio (Lido di Volano, Lido delle Nazioni, Lido di Pomposa, Lido degli Scacchi, Oporto Garibaldi, Lido degli Estensi and Lido di Spina).

As from the Years 1980 the zone lagunaire (whose Comacchio is the heart) related to the Park of the Delta of Po, is appreciated by tourism naturalist attracted by the fauna and the flora of the marshes. Bridges, channels, roads and the houses highly coloured confer to them a true connotation of city lagunaire, a small Venice , particular even for its cultural and architectural emergences.

Fauna and flora

The Oak, the Beech, the Reed and the Tamaris, are some-ones of the most diffuse plants in this zone. Valli shelter the largest variety of ornithological fauna of Italy. One finds there more than 300 species of birds like the flamingos, will hérons them, the brushes, fishing Martin, the snipe and the wild goose in winter. Moreover, for the piscicultural species, one can quote the sea-bream, the eel, the bar, the mule (or mullet).

Ecological problems

One of the problems involved in agriculture is posed by the increase, in the river Reno, of the brackish water pushed by the tides of the Adriatique. The gold of the dry seasons, the level of the river is lower than the sea level and, in spite of the mobile stopping of Volta Scirocco, water salted goes up several kilometers inside the grounds, prohibiting all irrigations of the cultures.

Resources and gastronomy

Fishing is very practiced, especially with the Anguille, as well as the exploitation of saltworks.

the fishing with the eel (), from September to December, in the bed of the channels by a method which goes back to the XVII century and still used today, with a modernization of the traps (in reed in the beginning). In fact the fishing of eel and its intensive breeding regulates the life of the delta, before it migrates towards the Sargasso Sea to reproduce.

Unfortunately, the aggravation of pollution is a serious threat for this species which tends to rarefy a little more each year.

the marinaded eel and smoke is the speciality of Comacchio (“Aguilla marinade di Comachio”). In the past protected by a law from the Pontifical State (law Galli) until the end from the second world war, this manufacture is always active in the canning facility of the city (in 2005,10 tons of eels were treated and put out of preserve).

Of 21 manufactures of treatment of fishing in 1853, it remains nothing any more but one about it today (Company Bonaiuto Vitali & Co). These disappearances are explained by the draining of 60.000 ha marsh and channels, which leaves little place to fishing (11.000 ha). This activity made practically live all the population of the valli, all the trades were represented: fish, manufacture and maintenance of nets, bow nets, boats, barrels of conservation, preparation of the fish (cutting, salting, embrochage, cooking, put out of preserve), trade,…
Aujourd'hui, the only existing manufacture, which had closed in the years 1990, took again its activity in 2004, under the patronage of the “Regional Park of Emilie-Romagna and the Delta of Po”. Four hearths out of the twelve were relit and manufacture began again with the assistance and the knowledge of former workmen.

the eel with the pin : opened into two, seasoned and cooked with the barbecue… a delight!.

Festivals and tourism

Festival of eel the first both weekend of October.
Country holidays and walks in the bicycle on the ways which make the turn of the valli ().
balneal Tourism in the seven Lidos de Comacchio.
historical Tourism in the cities close to Ferrare, Ravenne, Venice, Padoue.

Administration

Hamlets

Web site of Comacchio and its hamlets

Lido di Volano , Located at the mouth of the Po di Volano , the Lido, in addition to the beach, has a vast pine forest of 169 ha, which extends towards the south on 6 km and which belong to the " Natural reserve of Etat".
Lido delle Nazioni , Quoted balneal, to see the small house of fisherman who sheltered Giuseppe Garibaldi and his seriously sick Anita wife on August 2nd, 1849.
Lido di Pomposa , on August 8th of each year, a festival celebrates the foundation of the Lido in the years 1950-60.
Lido degli Scacchi , on August 8th of each year, a festival celebrates the foundation of the Lido. Lodging in hotel and especially in family residences for the “ lower middle class ” of Ferrare.
Oporto Garibaldi , fishing port to 4 km of the center of Comacchio. The locality was called Magnavacca (eat-cow) and was re-elected in the honor of the unloading of Giuseppe Garibaldi in the zone in 1849.
Lido degli Estensi , It is largest of the seven Lidos and bears the name of the Maison of Este, it is distinguished from the others lidos from dimension of its balneal establishments and for the “night life” which is prolonged late in the night.
Lido di Spina , It is Lido more in the south and which has one of the longest beaches of the Adriatic.

San Giuseppe
Vaccolino
Volania

Communes bordering

Silver plated, Codigoro, Lagosanto, Ostellato, Portomaggiore, Ravenne

Twinnings

Photograph gallery -->

See too

Internal bonds

the area Emilie-Romagna
the Flat of Po
the Delta of Po

External bonds

Official site of Comacchio
Regional Park of the Delta of Po
Site of Valli di Comacchio
Tourist site of the commune of Comacchio
Seen satellite of Valli di Comacchio

Random links: